That’s a progress bar one-eighth full after 30 minutes — a four-hour process at this rate — for the Wii U’s infamous firmware update, said to be 5GB (according to Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV, and repeated by numerous others). Sony, you are officially off the hook with the PS3′s interminable, poorly timed and mandatory system updates.

It’s not like Nintendo’s just fixing typos in the help file either. This update lets you access online features, transfer data from a Wii, visit the Miiverse and use other online features. So, basically, you’re bringing home an unassembled bicycle, and depending on your Internet connection speed, it could be between one and four hours before that battle station is fully operation. Expect this story to resurface again around Christmas morning.

I don't see the big deal.
5gb aint that big these days. If you wanna play straight away just run the update when you go to bed...
I doubt the chance of bricking is very high, unless you power off at the very end of the update when it is installing the download....

Shouldn't be any chance of bricking. Not sure how the original wii does updates or 360 or ps3 but with phones and ipods and whatnot you've got a locked bootloader (I don't mean the bootloader that people want 'unlocking', this is placed before that bootloader) which starts the device up, initialises USB and then attempts to load the next bootloader. If there is a problem with loading the next bootloader, it will give an error message/screen and allow the device to be repaired by loading a replacement (usually signed) firmware over usb.
For something in 2012 such as the WiiU to not have that is completely scrimping the barrel.

I don't see the problem with this. In fact, the day one firmware update was so they could get the Wii U manufactured months in advance, then release the firmware. My launch Wii (not Wii U) came with a disc to install the firmware (something along those lines) because they had not yet finalized the firmware at the time the Wii had been manufactured.

I've never bought a new custom computer from an OEM (e.g., HP or Dell), but I'm pretty sure they don't have the full operating system updates, even if you buy a custom built rig from an OEM. It's just not economical.

I don't see the big deal.5gb aint that big these days. If you wanna play straight away just run the update when you go to bed...I doubt the chance of bricking is very high, unless you power off at the very end of the update when it is installing the download....

The last thing I want to do when I buy a console is download 5GB update. Most people will be excited to play, and 5GB will take a long time to download (especially on my advertised 20 Mbps connection. Plus, many ISP's have data caps these days...In any case, it's a less than ideal situation.

The last thing I want to do when I buy a console is download 5GB update. Most people will be excited to play, and 5GB will take a long time to download (especially on my advertised 20 Mbps connection. Plus, many ISP's have data caps these days...In any case, it's a less than ideal situation.

5GB will not take much time at all to download on a 20Mbps connection. At peak speeds, no more than 35-40 mins. Hardly a 'long time'.